Chewie is jumping on strangers

[MrChew]

Chewie is now 17 months old and in maybe the last month (I think since the baby arrived?) Chewie has been jumping on people a lot more. This includes visitors at home and, more worryingly, strangers out and about. He has jumped on someone once on lead (I was distracted with the pram) and a couple of times off lead. Previously he was quite good about recalling away from people.

It is mostly when he is quite excited (his grandmothers have come over, or we are at the park), and maybe he is unsettled with the baby's arrival.

I'm not sure how to address this, and how much we even can considering that our resources are stretched (to say the least) at the moment!

 

[Lisa]

I wouldn’t be surprised that the baby’s arrival has unsettled him a bit. His normal routine has been disrupted. Plus he’s still a young dog, full of beans! The best place to start is likely at home, with visitors, as you have a little more control. As always, figure out what you do want him to do when people arrive, and train that.In my house, I want Simba to sit a fair distance away from the door when people come in. You can set up the situation if you can get a willing helper. Believe it or not Halloween actually worked brilliantly for me in this! Lots of people (excited kids!) coming to the door multiple times in one night. After about an hour he was sitting in his spot looking longingly at the door so he could get more
He is not perfect by any means but at least he has an idea of what to DO rather than “don’t jump!)

 

[MrChew]

Good idea Lisa. We do sometimes forget that dogs don't understand to "not" do something and that they need something else to do that is more rewarding than jumping. When we have been expecting people at home we have sometimes given Chewie a frozen Kong. This works well but is not at all generalisable.

We were out today with dog and pram and met a mum with two young boys on bikes and as we were passing she was trying to reassure the boys that Chewie was big but not scary and she said "Look at that well behaved puppy dog. He isn't jumping or anything." I laughed on the inside and kept Chewie moving...

 

[Lab_adore]

Maxx jumped on people, including us, as a puppy. We were able to train it out of him. And then at about 17 months (!) he started it again - but not on us this time so we are struggling big time to stop it. He will be trundling along like an angel then suddenly launch at a random person walking past - and tries to put his front paws on their shoulders. It is a huge problem and we can't take him to the off lead beach anymore as he was just jumping on everyone. I'm hoping a few more weeks/months at dog training will help as I saw an improvement today.

 

[Atemas]

You will probably find this impossible but if you can distract him with food when you see people coming. For me it meant having food hidden in my hand then when someone went by and I knew she was going to react/jump, I’d lure her along with food in my hand over her nose. This is probably not helpful for you with the pram - just worked for us when Red was doing this. She has outgrown it but we get the occasional reaction to certain dogs so useful to lure

 

[MrChew]

@Lab_adore I wonder if there's something about that age?

@Atemas I haven't been brave enough to go out with the pram and Chewie by myself yet. The pram incident happened when we were unloading the car and getting bub into the pram. When I have him by myself this is definitely something that I do, and does work quite well as long as the other dog/person keeps moving too. I'll need to do some dedicated "walking alongside the pram" training with him too, and maybe an empty pram.

 

[Jacqui-S]

I think it may be an age thing.

The lovely 15 month old Guide Dog who was about to go to Big School that I met last week also had a tendency to jump up.

I think it's easier when it's you or friends who you can instruct what to do. My default is to turn my back when I see its going to happen and not to react or say anything until you have 4 paws on the floor.
I think that is probably best way to manage it though not useful for strangers, hopefully some of the training bods will chip in.

 

[Loraseal]

I also think an age thing! Hunter who is nearly 2 still jumps due to overexcitement. I do try food but sometimes it just does not work. I try to reach the other people to ignore him! Hmm yeah.... After 5 mins calming he is OK. His Superlorin has worn off now so he is currently a jumping nightmare. Remember they are still young and learning. Hunter actually bucks like a horse when he sees anyone at moment .
I am hoping the new dose of Superlorin will kick in soon. He was much calmer and also responded well to the down command. I know having the pram complicates things.
You are doing a fantastic job with Chewie!

 

[Atemas]

if there's something about that age?

I agree it is an age thing, thinking back a year Red has changed hugely - for the better

 

[Selina27]

I found putting food on the ground helped when Cassie was like this --- she used to do massive leaps with all four feet in the air, but thankfully she seems to have grown out of this at 3 +. So take heart!

You have a lot to deal with I think with a baby and a young Labrador, so maybe it's a case of managing things until he grows up a bit

 

[FayRose]

Ahem - I drop my head in shame - Molly still jumps up with excitement and she's 3

We met a chap yesterday with his spaniel and Molly was delighted with the spaniel and was he with her. She started getting excited and I called to the young man that she may jump up if he speaks to her. He then said something that hit a chord with us and I think is probably a spot on description of Molls. He said "I won't worry if she jumps up, there's no harm in her, she's got 'happy softy' written all over her"
Molly to a T.

Good luck with Chewie, as everyone has said, no doubt his age and getting used to your little lad are having an effect.

 

[Boogie]

Tatze is fine now out and about - but she’s still awful at home with visitors. We still resort to putting her on her lead until she calms down.

 

[Kay]

I’ve used a lot of scatter feeding and middle with Booms when people come to the house. I have pocket full of treats and kibble and try and keep his attention on me as much as possible. But I get that can be hard with the little one in your arms.

Out and about I’ve been working on ‘oh look person’ come back for a treat which is slowly slowly starting to work.

I still remember with our old dog meeting someone in the woods who was wearing a white T-shirt which had muddy paw prints on it ... and having to apologise profusely as they must have met my large overly friendly bonkers lab

 

[MrChew]

I feel so much better after reading these replies. I suspect we will focus on management at this stage in life in the knowledge that we have a Lab who is too much of a lover!

 

[Emily]

Tatze is fine now out and about - but she’s still awful at home with visitors. We still resort to putting her on her lead until she calms down.

We still have to put Ella in her crate for a couple of minutes when people arrive. It allows the humans to say hello and get settled. Then we let her out and she's somewhat sensible. Otherwise she feels she must be a nutter as guests come through the door

 

[M.F.]

The best advice I was given is: Give him something better to do. So, when people came to visit, sitting was the better thing to do. Always got a treat. Worked really well, he eventually sat without being asked, wagging his tail and waiting for his treats, very cute. We asked our friends to praise him madly when he was sitting. It’s still his de facto “I’m being a good boy” behavior in any circumstance.

It wasn’t so cute when he left two dirty paw prints on a friend’s white jersey! That was before we learned this advice!